CHAPTER 47: BARUCH

Obtaining five adult vessels at once, their memory glimpses overlapped in his mind.

Changing their control to mechanical, Hadrian pinched his nose with his eyes shut.

Baruch.

He had not just heard it, it was a constant name, and face, in all their memories. Hadrian was not surprised by the existence of organized crime outside the mage backed mobs.

In a city like this, with over seven million people, it was to be expected for minor bold groups to form. He’d gotten the number from one of the men’s memories, whether it was true, he could not confirm.

Hadrian’s head felt like it was filled with water but eventually, after not so long, he was back to normal. For now, at least.

In the long run, it’ll be a problem. He thought.

Not just because of how they affected his mind, but more vessels meant more "individuals" to sustain.

While helping the poor family gave him a flowery feeling in his chest, it wasn’t the main reason he’d done it.

Luckily for the family, Hadrian’s rat vessels that were scouting the streets had overheard them.

Uncompromised vessels will create good opportunities.

They were regular humans, overpowering them wasn’t a hard task.

This Baruch, too, seems like a regular human. If I can take over their little mob ....

Hadrian didn’t care much for such low leveled criminals, but he’d make every asset he could.

I’m more powerful than a common mob now....

He remembered how he used to be so afraid of them.

It was evening once more, the distant clouds streaked with a warm glow, as Hadrian made his way to Baruch.

...

"It seems they’ve failed to come to an agreement."

Emil and Aelia’s father said with a stern face, his gaze never straying away from the compound of their manor. He was a young and handsome man with short brown hair.

"How soon?" His wife asked, sparing him a glance.

"soon." His voice was devoid of emotion.

She took steps closer to him, and placed her hands on the concrete balcony, the same way he did.

"The free cities won’t be free anymore." she said. "Will you comply?"

"They are rank seven mages. There’s little we can do. I’ll send word to my Barons."

...

Hadrian was surprised. In the glimpses of memories he’d gotten, Baruch had never shown he was a mage.

Now, as he peered into the man’s soul, he saw a rank one core.

He’d waited for him to be done with the young woman.

Laying on the bed, Baruch was smoking his pipe. Only his bottom half was covered with the blanket, exposing his lithe but muscular body.

He looks younger than the men who work for him. Hadrian thought.

Baruch watched as the woman put on her clothes. They didn’t say a word to each other, but the silence wasn’t awkward. They both understood it was purely transactional, meaningless.

Even long after she left, Baruch gazed at the wall with that deadpan expression.

When one of his own men walked in, he didn’t panic, not even raise a brow.

The man took a seat and crossed his legs.

"Don’t make it difficult." The man with droopy eyes said.

Hadrian could have called the essence from his rat vessel in the wall that peered through a crack, but after saving that family and turning those men into vessels at the scene of their "crime" he started to feel these types of men deserved to know why they died.

Just like it was with Truston.

Back then, one of the reasons Hadrian had never held anyone at knife point or forced them to give him something that was theirs, was because he hated the idea of bullies.

It didn’t mean he was perfect, but he felt his methods of quiet stealing didn’t bring anyone any real harm.

What if someone gets trauma from a missing scoop of grain in their bag?

He’d thought back then.

Of course, that was why he did everything in his power to find genuine work. Sadly, he was murdered at his first place of employment. And it was by ignorant bullies.

Baruch moved the pipe from his lips and blew out smoke. "You seem different." He said, his shoulders and hands relaxed.

"Your actions have finally caught up to you.... " the Hadrian vessel said as he called at the essence.

He smiled, not really to taunt the man, but at himself. He knew he was playing pretend.

I don’t care about them at all.

By "them" he meant the victims.

He was here for his own ambitions. He just needed a good enough reason to turn someone into a vessel.

So why do I feel like this?

The vessel’s brows slightly pinched. The essence effect was new. He felt like there was a rash all over his skin. In the room, the vessel remained unbothered.

Outside, however, his other vessels were scratching all over.

What path is this?

The smoking pipe dropped from Baruch’s hand and fell to the wooden floor with loud thump noises.

Baruch’s eyes widened and there was slight wetness to them. For the first time in a long while, it was like his sense of self was being revitalized.

As the days passed, everything had become boring to him. The sex, the tilav, and even torturing people. And in the past few months, it was unbearably so, days merged together in their meaninglessness.

Even when he randomly awakened to a mage two weeks ago, it was only exciting for a short while, but even that got boring.

In his soul sea, the mystical information had told him he was in the Flesh Path. He knew fairly more about mages than the average commoner but even he had never heard of this.

The feeling he felt somewhere deep inside him at that moment was beyond ecstasy. It felt familiar, calling at him like home, and it all came from the tall idiot who worked for him and his uncle. The tall idiot who now sat there with a posture and grin that didn’t quite fit his ugly face.

Still, a smile slowly formed on Baruch.